Wenger refuses to shackle 'clueless' Santos
Published 23:00 04/11/11 By John Cross
Arsene Wenger has assured cavalier full-back Andre Santos that attacking should always come first.
Brazilian Santos has given Arsenal fans kittens since his arrival in August by ignoring his defensive duties because he loves to get forward.
Legendary Gunners full-back Lee Dixon even claimed this week that Santos had “got no idea what he’s doing at left-back. He cannot defend!”
However, Wenger says Santos - a last-minute £6million buy from Turkish side Fenerbahce - is carrying on Brazil’s finest tradition of attacking full-backs and has got no intention of telling him to stop going forward.
The Arsenal boss said: “He needs to improve on defending, of course. It’s easier to give him that and go forward.
"They have a different perception of full-backs in Brazil than in Europe. But I believe he is much better defensively than people are giving him credit.
"He is still sometimes caught but in a one-on-one he is quite good and in the last 10 minutes at Chelsea he saved three or four goals.
“I feel it’s an important part of winning - having a full-back who creates. Take the Brazilian national team. The [Brazil] teams who have won, you will see that there is always two good full-backs.
“With two average full-backs, they would not have won. They had Alberto Carlos and Roberto Carlos. Jorginho, Cafu.”
Wenger admitted that full-backs used to be the most important players on the pitch and would see more of the ball than anyone else.
But with more sides playing just one striker, it is now up to the centre-halves to bring the ball out of defence.
Wenger has a nice selection dilemma, as Thomas Vermaelen is fit again and pushing for a start against West Bromwich on Saturday, while Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker are also fit.
But Wenger believes his defence is now getting stronger and helping the team carry on their excellent run of eight wins from their last 10 games.
“When you play against a 4-4-2, the two strikers stop your centre-backs, so the full-backs get the first ball from the goalkeeper," he said.
“Against a 4-5-1 - more the trend now - I think the two centre-backs become more important as the two full-backs block the midfield players. The quality of the centre-backs’ passing becomes very important.
“I have an ideal pairing at centre-back... it’s the three together!
"It depends who we play against and who is the most tired or who is the fittest. I think Vermaelen and Koscielny are very good and quicker.
“Mertesacker is a leader who can organise very well and is good in the air, tall. It depends what mixture we need. That will decide who plays.”
Either way, Wenger will be anxious that his defence does better than against West Brom last season.
They conceded three in a defeat at the Emirates and two at the Hawthorns in a draw.
But Wenger should be confident after their good run but warned there could be choppy waters ahead.
Wenger added: “I have enjoyed it (the last few weeks) very much because I have felt the spirit in the dressing room is good. And that they will do absolutely everything to get out of it.
“Personally, it was tough because we didn’t win games but it was enjoyable because you could feel the core strength of the team was very positive.
“You never know in my job. It’s like being on a boat which goes across the world - you never know when the next storm will come.
“Ideally, you want to go the whole season without losing a game. Unfortunately, that does not happen a lot. So, everybody has to face a period when it goes less well.
“The team which wins at the end is the one which has had the least periods when it has not gone so well.
“The turning point is not to lose two or three games on the trot, because after that it is like being in quicksand.”
Wenger says Arsenal are now homing in on the top four places, but admits that the title race is still out of reach - for now.
“We are only three points behind Chelsea but we need a strong period and Man City need a weaker period, which they are not having at the moment," he said.
“At the moment, we are not near enough to say we are playing for the championship, but we want to come back.
"We are back already in a position where we can aspire to be in the top four. We were not three weeks ago."
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